What do you say when someone you don't know comes up to you and tells you that they're your fiancée? That you've built a life together, shared hopes and dreams and a home together? For them, you're an intrinsic part of their life. To you, they're nothing more really than a random passerby on the street.
Oh, and all of this is happening in your underground jail cell that's located in a prison that's built on an island in the middle of an active volcano.
'Damn… no Adam Sandler movie has ever prepared me for this.' I thought to myself, as I blinked at the woman, Tsubaki.
A weird thought, I'll admit, but then again it was a very weird situation. I basically had to reverse 50 First Dates myself with this woman. Wait, no, in that one Drew Barrymore was the one with amnesia. Was it one with Rob Schneider then? … what the hell am I talking about, all of them have Rob Schneider in them.
'You're stalling.' I chastised myself when I saw Tsubaki take a half step forwards at my silence, eyes watery now, lip trembling. Even the guard, still standing by my cell door, still holding his torch, had a conflicted look on his face, eyes suspiciously shiny.
"M-mizuki? Say something… please."
"I am sorry, Tsubaki-san. They did tell me that I had a fiancée back in Konoha. But, I'm very sorry to tell you I… I don't remember you. You don't look familiar to me at all." I said, my voice as gentle as I can make it while dropping the bombshell.
It was even the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, your Honor, considering I hadn't watched the filler arc in which she was introduced. I couldn't even recall her picture coming up on Mizuki's wiki page either and if it had (it might have, I dunno, it's been several decades since that arc had aired after all) her picture had been somewhat overshadowed by the sight of my future Tiger Form.
And the coked-out mess that I'd be reduced to if I tried using it as I was now.
So, no, I genuinely saw this woman for the first time in my life and it must have shown in my tone of voice and expression. Tsubaki let out something between a choke and a sob, hand coming up to cover her mouth.
"Nothing?"
The question is pleading, desperate but it comes from a stranger. Of course I feel bad for the woman, but no more than you would be if you saw some tragedy on the news. A sort of distant "oh no, how sad" before you'd switch from the news to Netflix and zone out. All I could do at her pained look is give a helpless shrug, ruefully shaking my head.
"Again, I am sorry. I cannot image what this must feel like to you. But I do understand that this must be incredibly difficult for you. I wish I could help you, I do. I wish I could remember. Remember my past with you." I said, sincerely even.
While I had no past history with this woman, and while my immediate concerns for the future were somewhat more grand in scale than worrying about the domestic life, I couldn't help but feel bad for the woman standing shocked in front of me, her face, framed by long black bangs, an open book, tears slowly rolling down her fair cheeks.
"It must feel like losing a loved one all over again, even though their face is right in front of you…" I said softly, more a realization than any true attempt at communication.
I think back to my list, a bit guilty. For me, this random woman from an anime-only filler arc I had never watched in another life, another world, had just been a means to an end. An addendum on a step for my survival, someone I had intended to manipulate and use for my own ends.
But to her, her entire life had just been upended. She didn't know she was just a character from an anime-only filler arc, after all, that had been her life.
"… I thought I lost you once before already. T-then they told me that you lost your memory after they'd thrown you in here and I just… I hoped to see whether the man I fell in love with was still there somehow. That I finally got that man back again."
I frowned at that, confused.
"Wait, you lost me once before…?" I asked hesitantly, and behind Tsubaki I could see the guard swiftly dry his own wet eyes, guiltily hiding the handkerchief he'd taken out at some point during our reunion as he leans forwards intently.
Despite being just an NPC from a filler arc, Tsubaki is still a chūnin and notices as well, glancing back over her shoulder, showing off her thick braid that reaches down to just underneath her shoulder blades.
"Uhm… excuse me, Guard-san? But, this is rather… personal. Would you mind giving us some privacy?" she tried, but the man immediately shook his head.
"Sorry, but it's Konoha policy. One guard remains to observe all prisoner interactions with the outside world. Especially family and loved ones. They're usually compromised, you wouldn't believe what some of them have attempted to smuggle to the inmates on the inside."
'Actually, I can imagine quite a bit, considering that was my plan for Tsubaki in the first place…' I thought, somewhat annoyed, though I'm careful to let none of that appear on my face.
Tsubaki simply nodded her understanding instead.
"I see. It cannot be helped I suppose… Mizuki, I-" she started off, hesitantly, walking over to the cot in my cell and sitting down, her halting speech cut off by the ridiculously loud groaning of rusted springs and she gives the bed a somewhat incredulous look.
I glanced in the guard's direction with a raised brow and the man rubbed his neck, somewhat embarrassed.
"Ah… well, I suppose there's nothing in Konoha's policy that dictates visits have to take place within the prisoner's cell… Come on up, we probably have a free room somewhere upstairs, get you some proper chairs at least." He conceded and Tsubaki gratefully rose from the ratty bedsheets.
She easily stepped out of my cell, but before I could follow, the guard fished a set of cuffs from his flak jacket.
"Sorry, it's just-"
"Let me guess: Konoha policy?" I interrupted, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
Exactly what do they think I got planned anyways? Do they really think I'm that desperate that I'd make an attempt on his equipment pouch, steal a kunai off him, incapacitate both him and Tsubaki somehow and then fight my way to freedom past all the guards with just a knife in hand?
'… I mean, nevermind that that was literally my first plan, I've got a better one now anyways! Besides, I'm not that desperate… yet.'
Shrugging, I easily offered my hands to the man so he could chain me, though I catch the way that Tsubaki's eyes lock in on the large tattoo on my right forearm, a sort of abstract, almost cyberpunk-like skull motif. It's a surprisingly pained look, frustration and sadness visible in equal measure and I can tell there's a story there.
'It's such a strange thought, but she's probably more familiar with the history of this body than I am. She's known it for years, after all, seen every scar and every mark. I've only been wearing it for two days. I mean, I still don't even recognize my reflection whenever I see it.'
The steel of the cuffs snapped me from my musings as it they clicked shut around my wrists and the guard took me by the shoulder as we stepped outside of the cell, taking point as Tsubaki trailed silently behind us.
"Just this way please, ma'am. And you, don't get any funny ideas now." The guard warned, his grip on my shoulder briefly tightening.
"Trust me, I don't really have that kind of humor." I couldn't help but snark back, which probably wasn't the smartest move, considering the man's grip tightened even further.
He made to physically drag me up the two flights to the large double doors leading to the rest of the castle, but Tsubaki's soft voice halts him (and thus, me as well) in his tracks.
"Please, there's no need to act so rough with him. Please. He is… he was a very kind man, once. With his memory gone… he is not the monster you think he is. At least, I dearly hope so…" She pleaded and while the guard has to hide his sniffles once more (damn, are all Konoha guards this susceptible to telenovela-levels of drama?) I once again notice how Tsubaki seems to reference a more kind, gentle Mizuki than the one we got to see in the show.
'Which begs the question: which Mizuki was the act and which one was the real one? Or, perhaps more importantly, who is putting on an act in the first place, Mizuki or Tsubaki?'
Questions without answers for now and so I kept quiet and allowed the guard to escort us up the stairs and into the lower levels of the castle. Less delirious and wracked with pain now than during my impromptu hospital visit two days ago, I have more time to focus on my surroundings, trying to mentally build a map of how all the corridors connect and keeping track of all the various rooms, closets and common areas.
As we ascended a few levels, the air became noticeable hotter. It wasn't a gradual change either, but something that slapped you right in the face, like when you're standing too close to take something out of a steaming hot oven, every time we opened a door to a higher level. Coming up from the main prison hall, we had to go up a smaller set of stairs set around a corner, sealed with a heavy steel door at the top. To my surprise, the guard once again fished a large keychain from his flak jacket.
I'd have expected a prison facility of a major Hidden Village like Konoha to have mostly seal-based security systems. Sort of like the ninja version of a fingerprint or eyeball scanner, but even better in a sense. To fool a fingerprint scanner, all you really need is… well, the appropriate finger. Whether the rest of the body is still attached to said finger is a bit of a moot point. Not so with seals, as far as I understood it, considering you need to first mold physical and mental energy to produce chakra in the first place (which is impossible to do if unconscious… or, you know, dead) and then actively push it into the array to activate it.
Meaning that if you were to slap a seal on the front door and key it to the chakra of the guards, it was practically impossible for any prisoner to ever escape without the aid of the guards themselves. Forget trying to lift secret passcodes or stealing keys, even simply overpowering them wouldn't be enough in such a case.
Hell, this was the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, this housed the worst scum that Konoha hadn't bothered just straight up executing in the field, I'd have expected massive seal arrays to line every inch of the building, from wall to ceiling.
Perhaps I had read too much fanfiction, skewing my perception of what fuinjutsu could actually do in this world. Sealing was a highly revered art after all, with very few true masters of it. Perhaps the type of seals I'd been thinking of were far too complex and expensive to implement on such a large scale, hell, they might even be downright impossible in the first place.
I probably just overestimated the prison, come to think of it. This facility couldn't have been too well secured, given that even someone like Mizuki had managed to engineer a mass break-out in just a year after Naruto had kicked his ass at the beginning of the series. Even with the year of progress he, an adult man, had made in order to escape, Naruto had ended up handily defeating him in the end anyways.
Rasengan to the gut, the usual way for side villains to go. Mizuki hadn't even been worth a special edition version of it either, one that combined with the flavor of whatever setting the current filler arc was set in.
Wasn't there even an Aurora Borealis one? At this time of year, at this time of day, entirely localized within the Rasengan?
Apparently, all things are possible through the power of plot.
Still, main character energy or no, given how early in the series Mizuki had been introduced and how one-note he had been, it was just a fact that he scaled abysmally low in terms of power in this world (which, unfortunately, meant the same was true for me as well), which meant this prison couldn't have been that good in the first place if it failed to contain even the rather pathetic original version of me.
But even then, I'd have expected some more modern safeguards, more akin to what I knew existed back in my own world, considering that the Naruto world (at times) had access to equally advanced computers and machinery. Just not for their premier prison facility, apparently, as things were fairly crude and medieval all around.
Like the keychain. The guard had the right one swiftly enough, ninja dexterity for the win, but my eyes were trained on him like a hawk, making a note of which pouch he returned the keys to.
This was repeated twice more, and every time the heavy metal door swung open, harsh, sweltering, heavy air slammed into us, as if it was a guard in itself, trying to push us back down the stairs. Even underground, the heat of the caldera was inescapable, but to my surprise, so was its noise, a continuous, shifting, rumbling sound. Combined with the continuous oppressive warm air, it almost seemed as if the prison was a living, breathing giant of stone and mortar.
The halls the guard led us through were narrow, with low ceilings, making it near impossible to go through with a large group at once, done intentionally no doubt to deter a mass prison riot. The walls were slick with condensation that didn't evaporate but sat stubbornly on the stone, like the prison itself refused to sweat. They were lined with aged ventilation grates that hissed occasionally—not with air, but with steam from the magma chambers below.
Every so often, we passed a wooden or steel door, recessed into the wall. Not cells, not this high up, but various rooms. Some were unmarked, some had their function burnt into their front in harsh kanji.
The one that simply said "Attitude Recalibration" made me swallow, considering the acrid scent of blood mixed with urine and sheer fear that seemed to ooze out from underneath it like a stretching shadow. Conversely, another door had the far more ominous title of "Memory Deconstruction" but at first I thought it was simply a dilapidated part of the prison, the only sound coming from behind the iron slab the dripping of water. It was only once we passed it that I realized that the drops weren't just random, but that they had a rhythm, a strange harmonic undertone. They were constant… eerily constant and persistent and the further away we moved from the room, the louder the drops seemed to echo in my mind. I quickly went back to cataloguing our route, trying to burn that into my brain instead.
I didn't look too closely at the other doors after that.
Soon the heat increased further while the dankness and the creepiness receded, slinking and lurking down below us, hungrily waiting for my inevitable return to its depths. If my mental map could be trusted, I figured we weren't just at ground level anymore, probably one or two floors up in one of the Japanese style castle towers facing West. The paint here wasn't even chipped, the floor and corners cleaned.
"In here." The guard said gruffly, this time not even bothering with the keys as the room wasn't locked, holding the door open and allowing Tsubaki and I through.
I blinked a few times at the sudden influx of light, before quickly scanning the room. Tiled floor. Lime-green paint on the walls. A few filing cabinets. Four long, low-slung tables, rickety chairs besides them. Even starker than the hospital wing had been, a rec room of sorts apparently, though it smelled as if it hadn't been used in a while.
"Thank you. May we choose our seat?" Tsubaki asked demurely and the guard just shrugged, scratching his chin.
"What? Yeah, sure, just pick wherever. Keep your hands above the table though and Mizuki? No tricks." The man warned and I just raised my bound hands, allowing the short sleeves of my prison outfit to fall back a bit, further exposing the large tattoo on my arm.
"No worries. Got nothing up my sleeves, see?" I said, my tone friendly, but the guard just scowled.
'Alright then mister grumpypants. Did you already have no sense of humor before you got assigned to this shithole, or did you have to leave it back at customs at the front gate?'
Opting to just ignore the guard instead as he took up position nearby, leaning back against the wall, I followed Tsubaki as she took a seat at the table near the window. Briefly I glanced at it before dismissing it out of hand. Even if I trusted Mizuki's previous skills enough to think I could make it to the window before the guard could, my hands were still bound. Jumping through a second story window might be a non-issue for most ninja, but with both hands bound, right above a pool of lava and asshole ninja guards lining the walls as they watch you swan-dive gracefully headfirst to a burning death?
… alright, for some elite ninja like Kakashi or the Sannin, that would still be a cakewalk, but Mizuki had only been a chūnin dammit, one that got reduced to a pulp by a Naruto (and a couple hundred more of him as well) that couldn't even Tree Walk!
It was the Raditz problem all over again really: you get introduced too early into a series and power creep is just gonna make you look bad in retrospect.
So no, I ignored the window as a possible means of escape and took my place across from Tsubaki, raising my hands and placing them on top of the table in front of me with a roll of my eyes at the warning grunt the guard let out as I sat down.
Conversation started up roughly between the two of us, with long pauses as the both of us struggled to find topics to discuss. It mostly consisted of me asking innocent questions about the general state of the world and more personal questions in order to get to know here better. For her part, her questions about my current circumstances tended to be cut short, as despite my best efforts to keep the conversation going, there simply wasn't much for me to tell, as the answer was nearly always the same.
"You're still injured? How do you feel?"
"Like shit."
"How is your cell?"
"Shit."
"How's the food?"
"Shit."
"How's the work?"
I'll let you figure that one out by yourself.
Point is, conversation proved to be painful and halting and it didn't take too long for it to peter out completely, the both of us at a loss for something to discuss. For a moment, the two of us just looked at each other, before I decided to just bite the bullet (or shuriken, as the case may be) and cleared my throat.
"Tsubaki-san. I truly appreciate that you've come to visit me and as I've mentioned before, I'm sorry I can't remember our past together. However, if there's anything I can do to aid you, please, don't hesitate to mention it."
I chuckled self-consciously, trying to rub at the back of my head, though my bound wrists made it look a bit awkward.
"Though, obviously, my aid is limited given… my current position." I lightly joked, but Tsubaki just kept staring at me with her dark eyes, intently studying my face.
'Crap, am I acting too different from the original Mizuki? Wait, shouldn't that be a good thing though? Really act up the amnesia-angle? Man, I'd be so shit at being a professional ninja, I'm nowhere near sociopathic enough to lie properly as one! If only I'd been a politician in my past life!'
"Tsubaki-san?" I prodded, and the woman blinked a few times, a slight blush on her cheeks as she realized how she had been staring.
"I-I'm sorry. It's just… it's been so long since I've seen you act like this. It's not exactly the same, but the kindness… the gentleness… for so long, I was afraid you'd lost that forever. That I'd lost you forever."
I frowned at her confession and leaned a bit more forwards in my chair.
"Tsubaki-san, if you don't mind my asking, this is the second time now you've implied that you 'lost' Mizuki- ah, sorry, 'lost' me before the… incident with Umino Iruka and Uzumaki Naruto. I was wondering what you meant by that? Did I… change somehow?" I questioned, and from the corner of my eye, I could see Mister Grumpypants shift a bit forwards as well, still leaning against the wall as he was.
Tsubaki remained silent for a moment, before giving a shaky nod.
"We first met in the Academy. I'm not sure you were even aware of who I was at the time though. Then we ended up in different genin teams and drifted even further apart, only meeting occasionally. But then you, Umino-san and I all made chūnin roughly at the same time. We started doing more and more missions together. I still hadn't really gotten over my childish crush from before and I was so happy when it seemed like you were finally starting to notice."
'Oh, so we're going all the way to the beginning then? Ok, might as well, I need to know my own backstory after all.'
Tsubaki's smile was wistful as she continued, so caught up in her memories she didn't even spot how Mister Grumpypants had taken out his handkerchief again, stemming the flow of tears from his eyes as he quietly sniffles, still in his spot against the wall.
'Get yourself together man! No wonder I managed to escape in the future if this is what counts for professionalism around here! Have some pride in your work!'
"It wasn't long after that we started going on dates. I thought I couldn't be happier, but then one day, you took me beyond the walls, to a nearby hill overlooking our village. You had secretly built a small homestead for us, complete with gardens and a wonderful view of our home. You asked me to marry me there, to build a life together in our own little corner of the world."
'He built a house for her outside the Village walls? Hmm, more like he built it to cover his ass and serve as an easy escape route. Which makes him a dick for lying about it like that, but for now, it's something that works to my advantage at least… guess that makes both of us Mizukis a dick, huh?'
"I built a home for you? Wow. You must've made quite the impression on me." I said with a lopsided smile and Tsubaki let out a teary little laugh, before going quiet.
Slowly, her expression turned sadder and she began fiddling her thumbs.
"We were happy there. For a little while at least. But then… then you came back from an awful mission… You had lost a teammate to a terrible injury on your way back from retrieving important documents."
'Wait, I think I remember reading about that! Didn't I-… oh, right, the guy got stabbed in the leg or something and Mizuki straight up strangled him. Damn.'
Not seeing the way my face suddenly blanched, Tsubaki continued, tears in her eyes now.
"At first I thought the loss of a comrade was bad enough for you to deal with. But then it started an investigation and your promotion to Academy instructor was frozen. You became so… so cold, and angry. At everyone, at Konoha, even me, but especially at Umino Iruka, who had been promoted before you. It was around that time that you suddenly got… got that." Tsubaki finished, her voice surprisingly strong as she looked at the tattoo on my arm with a deep scowl.
"This?" I questioned, lifting my arm and taking a closer look at the various ducts and slots that were placed strategically within the skull-motif.
"I mean… I guess I dealt with my emotional turmoil by getting a tattoo?" I questioned hesitantly.
I mean, people definitely had gotten worse designs for worse reasons after all, but Tsubaki just shook her head, her expression grim, and I catch the way her dark eyes flit over towards the intrigued looking guard.
"It's not a tattoo, Mizuki. It's a seal."
'A seal? Right, then this must be what gave him- I mean, me my Tiger form in the future. But then-'
"It's a seal placed on you by Orochimaru." She said and the guard practically slid down the wall in shock as I looked at her with wide eyes.
"Wait, what?"
"Wait, WHAT?!" the guard exclaimed as he worked his way back to his feet, but Tsubaki remained oddly, eerily calm.
"I came to visit you, Mizuki, to see what kind of man remained, now that your memories are gone. The gentle man that built a home for us? Or the man who ran to Orochimaru for power, for revenge? Because that was who you stole the Scroll of Stealing for. Because of a man like that, because of the promises he made you, you are now here in prison."
"… and you knew?"
"Yes. You told me that night. Tried to convince me to leave with you, accompany you to Orochimaru's hide-out. I refused you, begged and begged you to see the error of your ways. To abandon this dark path you had set yourself on. But I loved you too much, was too afraid of what Konoha would do to you, to alert the authorities. So I kept quiet as you packed your bags, hoping you'd come to your senses. I kept quiet when you didn't come home after work and kept quiet when the alarm was sounded later in the night. I even remained quiet when ANBU came to question me after you'd been captured and thrown in here. You were already sentenced for the crimes Konoha knew about, and despite everything, I couldn't bring myself to add onto that. Which incidentally brings me to the second reason for my visit."
With that, she pushed back her chair, stood up and boldly approached the still baffled looking guard, his mouth gaping wide open and she calmly extended both wrists to him.
"Guard-san. I hereby wish to turn myself in for withholding vital information from my superiors in addition to sheltering an enemy of the state."
Both the guard and I remained frozen in our spots as we stared at the woman who I could only assume has gone utterly mad with grief.
"I, uhh… I need to get someone higher-up involved with this. J-just, uhh, stay here. Please?" The guard muttered haltingly, fishing out a second pair of cuffs and slipping them over Tsubaki's slim wrists before scratching his head, moving out of the room in a slight daze.
"Man, my paycheck definitely isn't large enough to deal with this shit." He said to himself under his breath.
Tsubaki turned to glance back at me again, chin held high. Meanwhile, I couldn't help but stare at the woman, eyes wide and mouth left gaping.
'If this is your idea of helping…' I eventually thought as the woman moved back to her seat, mirroring me now as she too rested her chained hands on the tabletop.
"I know what you're thinking." The woman began and it was only my shock that managed to keep me from scoffing out loud.
'I very sincerely doubt that, considering you were one of the most integral parts of my escape plan!'
"I must confess, I'm not sure what to think, Tsubaki-san. I'm as horrified as anyone to learn that, at my lowest point, I went so far as to go to Orochimaru of all people. In a weird way, I'm actually glad I was defeated by this Iruka and Naruto, so I couldn't give him a source of power like the Scroll of Sealing. Still, I'm struggling to think how revealing such information now could improve my already precarious situation." I said, only barely managing to keep my voice from sounding angry or icy.
Still Tsubaki flinched, her eyes flitting down to our chained hands before taking a deep breath and looking me straight in the eye.
"I understand. This must almost feel like betrayal to you, especially since you can't even remember it. Why mention it then? But that's the thing, I do remember. I remember your plans for that night. What you intended to do with the Scroll. You don't, but I do."
I blinked at that, a suspicion wiggling at my brain.
"Wait, don't tell me-"
Tsubaki interrupted me, taking a steadying breath.
"I don't know what happened on that mission to change you so much Mizuki. Trauma changes all of us in different ways, I suppose. But now that I've seen you, spoken with you, I see that with your amnesia, that trauma has gone as well. That kind, sweet man I've had a crush on since we were both still kids, that man that had been buried underneath the pain and anger and the poison of Orochimaru, that man is all that remains now. That is who you are, Mizuki, the fact that you naturally reverted to this state after losing your memory is proof of that. That is the man I love, even if he doesn't know me. And such a man does not deserve to rot away here for crimes he has memory of even committing. That burden shouldn't be placed on you."
"Tsubaki… you…"
"As I am currently the only person alive with full knowledge of your crimes of that night, not you, I intend to trade my life for yours. I will stay here, allowing you to go free. I hope."
Fun Fact: Mizuki's birthday is on October 21st